All of the below wired earphones are distributed by the IEM retailer, curator, and distributor Linsoul, and with that comes a certain guarantee of quality. Everyone I've tested from them has hit a high level of quality control, so really all you as the potential buyer have to worry about, is if the sound profile is to your taste.

As I've tried most of them, I'm going to give you my tuning impressions, plus any design and comfort highlights for each of them. Many of them feature in my list of the best IEMs under $500, and my favourite budget IEMs under $100 – so these aren't just random IEM deals, but rather a curated list of genuinely excellent options.

I were to pick only one? Considering price, sound and build quality, I would get the Kiwi Ears KE4 down from $199 to $169. It's a fantastic, modern IEM that has a best-seller since its 2024 release for very good reason.

Fortunately, there are eight travel accessories that could all potentially save the day at some point during a trip, whether you're going on a work journey or just visiting family for the holidays. These handy gadgets could help you find your gear, save your work, keep you charged up or just improve your entertainment experience when you're on the go. And some of them have decent discounts now that the Black Friday sales have started!

For larger pieces of hardware, see our guides to the best drawing tablets and the best portable CAD laptops.

• Browse travel essentials at Amazon

It's not a massive saving, especially since Nintendo's 'next gen' console used to be cheaper than Switch 2's new US price, but discounts on Nintendo hardware are still relatively rare. For comparison, the console and Ocarina of Time bundle is $568, so it's cheaper to buy the Woot deal and The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time separately, since it's $49.99 as a digital download. (That's $10 less than the physical edition.)

• Read our The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time review

US price drops on Nintendo Switch 2 and The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time

The picks of the UK NIntendo Switch 2 deals

There's also a growing selection of UK deals to consider, and as with the US, it's rare to see Switch 2 drop in price outside of big sales events like Black Friday – it feels like Nintendo really wants you to play Ocarina of Time.

Amazon UK lists the standard Switch 2 through third-party sellers, with prices starting at £399.99 on its current listing, although the cheapest visible offer is a Like New console for £369.99 rather than a new console from Amazon itself.

Elsewhere, Sports Direct (yes, they sell Switch 2 and Nikes) has been listing the standalone console for £395.99, while EE has it for £405. Even better, EE has a Switch 2 and Mario Kart World bundle for £409, making the extra £4 a no-brainer if you don't already own the game.

Very is also worth a look, with its standalone console listed at £389.99, alongside bundles including Ocarina of Time, Donkey Kong Bananza and Mario Kart World. My pick? The Switch 2 Console bundle with Nintendo Switch Sports Resort and The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, as you get the console's biggest game and the latest party game. The same bundle is £489 at Currys.

Speaking of which, one of my picks at Currys is a Switch 2 and Splatoon Raiders Bundle, spotted for £424 – it's one of my favourite Nintendo games released this year (read our Splatoon Raiders review to discover why). That's a particularly tempting option if you're after a game as well as the hardware.

• Read our Nintendo Switch 2 review

My Nintendo Switch 2 deals advice?

The Woot deal is excellent if you're already an Amazon Prime member or want to join before Black Friday. But it does suggest there could be deals around the end of November for the year's big sales event.

If you just want The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, buying it digitally 'saves' you $10 off the physical edition price.

In the UK, I'd be looking at the £390–£410 mark for a Switch 2 console, especially bundles that include a full-price game for very little extra. There are more offers around right now, too.

Dispatch was made in Unreal Engine and stars Breaking Bad's Aaron Paul as former hero Robert Robertson, alongside Jeffrey Wright, Laura Bailey, and members of the Critical Role cast. It's an animated, episodic workplace comedy that plays like a TV series, but it wasn't always a game, and that's perhaps why it feels so unique. AdHoc was founded in Los Angeles in 2018 by Telltale Games alumni who planned to make interactive experiences with real actors on screen, and Dispatch began that way.

I asked co-founders Nick Herman and Dennis Lenart, the studio's COO and CTO and both co-creative directors, what survived the jump from live-action series to animated game, and what had to change.

• Read our guide, 'How to make an FMV game: 10 pro tips' for advice

How a live-action browser test shaped Dispatch’s doughnut shop scene

One piece of the original script made it through every draft: the doughnut shop scene in episode two. Lenart says it was "one of the pieces from the early script that just kind of kept hanging around through every draft all the way from live action into the animated game".

The set-up was different back then. You watched a camera feed as the hero Invisigal dealt with a thief, and your job was to feed her the information she needed to succeed. In the live-action version, that meant switching cameras and pulling information from what each camera showed. Herman says the scene was "purely built around the technology" AdHoc was using to create its interactive live action. It ran in a browser and had hard limits, including, as Herman recalls, “I think it was like four simultaneous tracks of video”.

The team turned that restriction into a mechanic. Watch the alley behind the shop, and you couldn't see what was happening inside the front. "By choosing where you were going to give your attention, the game would adjust, and you'd learn different things based on where you were looking," says Herman, calling it the perfect place to test the idea.

Because they'd spent so long on it, they carried it forward. In the game, Lenart says, they wove in mechanics from the final design, such as hacking, "to make it feel a little bit more like Robert was helping out Invisigal".

Why Dispatch’s story changed: how the Z-Team was created

The original story was a mentorship, centred on the one-on-one relationship between Robert and Invisigal. Pivoting it into a game changed that. AdHoc wanted a dispatch mechanic, with the player sending heroes out on calls, and that needs a roster. "So the Z-Team was created to support the gameplay," Lenart says, "which then informed the story, and then changed the overall arc of the season, which brought a whole team into it as opposed to just a one-on-one mentorship with Invisigal."

It's a neat illustration of how the studio works. "Everything at AdHoc starts with story," says Herman, contrasting that with studios that pick a genre first, polish the mechanics and the game-feel, and only later ask what the story is. AdHoc begins with the world, the characters and who the player is, then asks what that means for gameplay. "Oh, well, you're a superhero dispatcher, so maybe we should have some sort of dispatching mechanic, right?"

Once there's a script, it moves on to storyboards, animatics and animation. That storyboard stage is now part of the product: the anniversary Deluxe Edition update adds Storyboard Mode, which plays the whole game through its original animatics. It's a new mode that offers genuine insight into how a scene was planned, scripted and animated.

Why Dispatch switched from live action to animation

The move to animation was driven by budget constraints, to an extent, because they could do more with a little extra, and it also changed the game's scale, given Dispatch's live-action origins; Lenart says the team knew they were "severely limited from a budget standpoint compared to big-budget superhero tentpole movies". For budgetary reasons, the story was largely set in an office with a small cast.

Animation flipped that constraint and aligned with trends like Mixtape's hand-made animation, giving the team room to grow and aim higher within the new art form. "We're able to have a giant action scene because it doesn't cost that much more than having a bunch of characters walking around talking," Lenart explains. That let AdHoc expand the moments that deserved spectacle: "Let's really go all out and try to compete with some of the other best-in-class versions of these scenes in animation."

What Dispatch’s success means for narrative games

Ask whether players have done anything that made AdHoc rethink how interactive stories should work, and Herman is refreshingly honest. “I don’t know that there have been any major epiphanies,” he says, before steering to a different answer: launching Dispatch “was a labour of love”, the culmination of a lot of work distilled into one experience the team felt was exciting and high quality.

He adds: "The success of the game has just really injected a lot of confidence into us and other developers making similar types of games. For a long time, there hadn't been a really clear or recent example of something like this reaching a level of success that a developer could go out and raise funding for."

He's proud of who found it, too. Dispatch "was able to pierce a new audience who perhaps thought gaming wasn't for them". Lenart agrees, saying the success feels like "motivation to keep making these types of games and expand our possibilities even more".

The Dispatch Deluxe Edition is out now on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, and Nintendo Switch / Switch 2, and $10.99 digital upgrade path for existing owners

Where to buy Dispatch Deluxe Edition

The MX Master 4 Special Edition takes Logitech's excellent black mouse and spruces it up with a new white colourway and red-and-grey accents. Inside, it's the same MX Master 4, and like the 2025 version, it has a tough act to follow. Its predecessor, the MX Master 3S, is already one of the best productivity mice you can buy, so Logitech never intended to reinvent the wheel. Instead, we get more customisation, haptic feedback, and a handful of design tweaks, and in this Special Edition, a more personalised colour choice.

These are all the developments I’d expect from a follow-up to the excellent MX Master 3S, one of the best mice you can buy, but they make this a nicer-looking version of a mouse that was a smart evolution rather than a must-have upgrade, unless, I'd argue, you're a creative; then the Actions Ring becomes a bigger thing than you may expect and is new to MX Master 4, Special Edition or not.

The shape is the same as the MX Master 3S, with its sculpted ergonomic design, deep thumb rest, and plenty of controls to keep your hands off the keyboard. It’s comfortable for long workdays, and the weight is spot on. It has enough heft to feel planted on the desk without feeling clumsy. It’s big, though, and it won’t suit everyone. This is a mouse for your desk, not your laptop bag.

• For more control consider one of the best drawing tablets

The impressive MagSpeed scroll wheel

The MagSpeed wheel is as good as ever. Flick it, and it free-spins through a long spreadsheet or a 40-page document, then ratchets back to click-by-click scrolling when you need precision. Switching between the two is automatic, which is why it’s so easy to take for granted.

The finish is where things have changed. This is the Special Edition of last year’s MX Master 4 release, so the design changes over the MX Master 3S remain. Logitech has swapped the soft, rubberised coating of older models for something harder, but it’s not slick or glassy. The cover has a nice bit of tooth, and different areas have subtly different textures, so your fingers always know where they are without you looking. It feels different from the old MX Masters. A colleague wasn’t keen on it when they tried [2025’s MX Master 4], but I got used to it quickly, so your mileage may vary, and existing owners may need a few days to adjust.

Those alterations aside, the Special Edition replaces flat blacks with a soft grey-white colour and red accents. The dark grey Actions Ring thumb rest pops in this colourway, and I far prefer it to the faceless black PC-mouse aesthetic of the base model. There’s no price difference between black and Special Edition.

Making use of haptics and the Actions Ring

The thumb rest gets the biggest rethink. It’s usually the most wasted area of a mouse, a bit of plastic to rest your thumb on. Here, it’s the way into the new virtual dial, called the Actions Ring, which makes it feel like part of the design rather than an afterthought.

The haptics are a lovely touch. They kick in when you make a selection and when you open and cycle through the Actions Ring, so I can keep my eyes on the screen, click and scroll, and still feel a little resistance and feedback. This also helps with gesture control, too, if you go as far as needing that kind of input. It’s subtle, but it makes the mouse feel more connected to what you’re doing.

As you may have guessed, the Actions Ring is the real star of the new features. It’s an on-screen dial that expands what the mouse can do, making it easy to open folders or switch between apps without dropping into the Windows menus. You can tailor the ring to the job, from something as basic as Google to Photoshop or DaVinci Resolve. Support isn’t universal, though. The best digital art and design apps like Krita, Affinity Photo and CorelDRAW are covered, but smaller apps like Escape Motions Rebelle aren’t a default option, so you’ll need a workaround: assign function keys in Options+, then match them to the app’s own shortcuts for undo, clear layer or brush toggles. It works, but you need to know your keys or set them up ahead of time.

This also means getting to grips with Options+ and its app features, which is a lot of learning for a mouse. I’d like it to work more without that software running in the background. But if you persevere, it adds real depth and makes the mouse faster to use and more flexible. Once it’s set up, you’ll love it. You can tweak everything from haptic strength to scroll speed, and I’d probably be moaning if I couldn’t fiddle.

The haptics, gestures, and Actions Ring are a step beyond the MX Master 3S, and creatives who map shortcuts to the ring will get the most from this mouse.

MX Master 4 Special Edition vs MX Master 3S: should you upgrade?

So, should you buy the MX Master 4 Special Edition? If you’re coming from a basic mouse, absolutely. The ergonomics, scrolling and customisation make it a brilliant tool for anyone who works at a computer all day, whether in creative apps or simply navigating menus and Google.

If you already own an MX Master 3S, it comes down to how you work. The haptics and Actions Ring are genuinely useful and, for creative apps, a new, easier way to work, so it’s worth it if you’ll map shortcuts to the ring or, like me, hate sorting through Windows menus and would rather one-click into the regular apps and files. For everyone else, they’re not enough to make a perfectly good mouse obsolete.

In this image, I really wanted to feature the uncanny nature of his deadly art, and I think this upside-down pose captured that the best. But I almost went with something less... weird! Finding the sketch that best communicates what’s important about a character is crucial to a successful illustration. You may want one of the best drawing tablets or the best laptops for drawing.

Gear up

See below for today's best deals on drawing tablets.

This article originally appeared in ImagineFX. You can order back issues.

Creative Bloq is now easier to access than ever before with our on-the-go app, which brings you all the content you know and love from our website, but in a super-streamlined design.
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Tomy will have a new name for those of us outside of Asia. It's also introduced a new unified logo for all markets, and the dramatically different look has caused a lot of surprise.

See our guides to the best laptops for graphic design and the best monitors for graphics artists if you need new tools for your own work.

Tomy will now be known as Takara Tomy everywhere, consolidating its global branding under the name it was already using in Asia. In all markets, the familiar white and blue wordmarks are being replaced by a new logo design that combines the name with a rather abstract-looking symbol with a teal-to-magenta gradient. The company calls its colours 'Quality Blue' and 'Quality Gradation'.

While the symbol looks inscrutable, the company says it's based on a fusion of the katakana characters for 'asobi', a term that can be translated as 'play', 'recreation' or 'amusement' (see the video below). So although the logo looks indecipherable, it's actually a literal representation of the brand's playful spirit,

That playfulness is apparent in the wordmark too, if you look closely. There are two Ts, and three As in the company name, but each one is rendered different. The first A has a slight downward curve on the crossbar, the second a slightly upward curve, and the last has serifs on the feet and apex. From a distance, the wordmark looks fairly uniform and reserved, but each letter has its own personality.

However, some people aren't sure that the icon works. Even in Japan, people seem to be struggling to decipher its meaning.

"Is it the chip on a credit card," one person wonders on X. "It looks like a seafood processing company," someone else thinks.

Some are even suggesting that the company's announcement that the new identity will be rolled out on 1 April 2027 is a sign that the rebrand might be an extremely early April Fool's Day prank.

I'd say it actually looks like a Screwball Scramble.

Here's the company's video explainer, which shows how the design was formed.

Tomy is an abbreviation of the name of Eiichirō Tomiyama, who founded the company in 1924. The company merged with Takara, another Japanese toymaker, in 2006. That led to the last rebrand, under which the company adopted the Takara Tomy name in Asia.

In an explanation of the rebrand on its website, Takara Tomy says it's now transforming from a 'toy company' to a 'play company' and that it will adopt the motto "One Takaratomy" as it unifies its branding".

For more of the week's branding news, check out the winning Caixa rebrand in Brazil.

Project Link Up is set to revolutionise vector design, turning the simple dragging function into context-aware fusion that automatically matches a scene's perspective. (TLDR: constantly redrawing objects at new viewing angles could soon be a thing of the past).

To understand more about Project Link Up, I caught up with Hailin Jin, senior principal scientist and research lead for imaging and design at Adobe, to get his behind-the-scenes insight into the work.

But choosing the best AI video generator for you isn't only a question of visual quality. The increasing number of models available have varying limitations and strengths and weaknesses in different areas. Pricing structures can also vary wildly, and subscription fees often represent only a fraction of the cost.

Many AI video generators operate on credit systems, charge extra for premium models, or limit video length and resolution in ways that can quickly inflate your spend. With that in mind, here we take a deeper dive into the five best AI video generators available today, which we've ranked according to overall value as well as their flexibility and practical usefulness for professional creatives.

Whichever model or models you choose to work with, you'll probably want one of the best laptops for video editing or the best desktop PCs for video editors.

The best AI video generators

Adobe is already a powerhouse in filmmaking thanks to Premiere, which we rate as the best video editing software. As a result, Firefly more than just an AI video generator. Unlike many rivals that function as standalone tools, it integrates into Premiere and the wider Creative Cloud environment, making it significantly easier to incorporate AI-generated footage into existing professional workflows.

The most recent video-generation capabilities are particularly impressive. Prompt adherence is strong, footage tends to look polished and cinematic, and Adobe has invested heavily in making outputs commercially viable for professional users.

As announced at Adobe Max 2026, the native Firefly Video editor has been expanded to make it easier to combine clips with other elements such as images and sound effects, and projects created in Firefly Boards, Adobe's collaborative brainstorming space, can be carried straight into the video editor. There's also Adobe's AI agent, which makes using its software more intuitive and conversational.

The Adobe name also offers reassurance in terms of safety and reliability. The platform's unlikely to disappear or radically change from one day to the next, and output from the native Firefly Video Models is intended to be safer for commercial use since they were trained on licensed material rather than scaped copyrighted video.

On the other hand, if you do want to use other models, they're here in Firefly itself. Google Veo, Kling, Runway and Luma AI's Ray are all integrated and ready to use in Adobe's platform, so you get not only the top AI video generator on our list but access to the second, third and fourth too!

Pricing: Adobe's Firefly Standard plan costs $9.99 per month and includes 2,000 generative credits, enough for around twenty 5-second AI video clips at 1080p quality. Higher-tier plans increase those allowances. Adobe currently prices 1080p video generation at roughly 100 credits per second, meaning a single 5-second clip consumes around 500 credits.

You can also access Firefly video generation through a Creative Cloud Pro plan, which gives you access to Adobe's suite of apps, including Premiere and Photoshop. Just note that you may need to pay for additional generative credits depending on how much footage you're generating, and partner models have different credit costs.

If pure visual quality is your priority, Google Veo has a strong claim to being the most impressive video model currently available. The platform is particularly good at realistic movement, lighting, camera behaviour and environmental detail.

Veo's ability to generate convincing cinematic scenes has made it popular among advertisers, content creators and filmmakers seeking premium-looking footage without a full production budget.

Pricing: Google offers Veo through consumer subscriptions and API access. For developers, Veo 3.1 costs roughly $0.40 per generated second, putting a typical 5-second clip at around $2.00 before retakes. That's easily the most expensive platform in this comparison, but it also delivers some of the highest-quality output available.

You can also access Veo through Google Gemini, Google AI Studio and through Adobe Firefly (see above). Through Gemini, there is a free tier offering just 3 video generations a day, at the time of writing, Google AI Pro costs $19.99 a month for 1,000 Flow credits, which translates to around 100 Lite videos or 10 high-quality Standard videos at 720p with a watermark. Google Ultra AI takes at $99.99 a month and upwards gives you 25,000 credits a month, enough to generate thousands of draft clips at 1080p.

Runway remains one of the most mature AI video platforms on the market. While some competitors may occasionally produce more realistic footage, Runway excels at putting creators in control. The platform includes advanced camera controls, editing features and creative tools that make it particularly appealing to professionals who want more than simple text-to-video generation.

The video editing features enable you to do things such as isolate a subject and remove the background, colour grading, adjusting the depth of field, making a slow motion version of your footage, and 'Inpainting', which means you can easily remove unwanted objects.

Pricing: Runway has several subscription tiers, ranging from entry-level plans through to professional and enterprise options. The credit-based system rewards efficient users but can become costly during experimentation. The Standard plan starts at $15 per month and includes 625 credits. According to Runway's published figures, that's enough for around 52 seconds of Gen-4.5 video generation. A creator producing multiple social videos every week will likely need the Pro plan at $35 per month or higher.

The Chinese platform Kling has become one of the biggest disruptors in AI video generation. It consistently produces impressive results while undercutting many western competitors on price.

Human movement, character animation and stylised content are particular strengths. For YouTubers, social creators and small businesses, Kling often represents the best balance between quality and affordability.

Pricing: Paid plans start at under $10 per month, and a 5-second 1080p clip generally consumes around 40 credits. That works out to roughly $0.40-$0.60 per clip depending on subscription tier, making Kling one of the most cost-effective premium AI video generators currently available and generally cheaper than Veo and Runway. However, as with most platforms, higher-quality generations consume credits faster.

Not every project needs blockbuster-quality visuals. Sometimes speed matters more than perfection, and that's where Hailuo shines. The platform is built around rapid iteration, allowing creators to test ideas quickly and cheaply. Agencies often use it during concept development before moving final production to more advanced systems.

Pricing: Hailuo is typically among the most affordable options available. Standard plans start between $8 and $15 per month depending on promotions and region. A typical 1080p generation consumes about 50 credits, placing the cost per clip around $0.50-$0.75.

The main trade-off is quality, and you might find yourself generating more clips to achieve a satisfactory result, which can offset the initial cost advantage. Additional editing and post-production work may also be required.

The hidden costs of AI video generators

Before diving in to AI video generation, it's worth remembering that subscriptions don't always tell the whole story. A $10-per-month plan may sound inexpensive, but the number of usable clips you can generate could be surprisingly limited.

Making direct comparisons between AI video generators is difficult because some services charge per second of output, while others use credit systems that effectively works out as a cost per clip.

Pricing can also vary depending on which plan you choose and how much you use it. Heavy users are likely to have to pay extra for more credits, and plans are continually in flux. Providers have been making regular changes to their pricing as new models roll out and the competitive landscape changes. The prices being quoted today could easily change in a few weeks' time.

The challenge with any AI video generation is that creating a complete project often requires multiple generations. A single eight-second clip may be excellent, but producing several matching shots for a finished sequence can dramatically increase usage costs. You'll often need to generate dozens of variations before selecting a final clip, turning what appeared to be a modest monthly subscription into a much larger operational cost.

Users will also usually need separate editing software to assemble final productions.

Conclusion

For most creative professionals, we think Adobe Firefly currently represents the most balanced and versatile package while also offering reasonable value. While Google Veo may edge ahead on raw visual realism and Runway offers deeper creative controls, Firefly's integration with professional creative software makes it the most practical choice for real-world production environments, and Firefly does also provide access to Veo and Runway too.

That said, the right tool depends heavily on your needs. Consider Veo for cinematic quality, Runway for directorial control, Kling for affordability and Hailuo for rapid experimentation. Just don't judge any platform by its headline subscription price. In the AI video market, credits, render limits, premium models and editing requirements often matter far more than the monthly fee itself.

Unsurprisingly, this year's Sneaks have a heavy focus on AI across the ten innovations. We saw demos of tools that could make AI image and video editing more precise and transform the workflows of people working in film, digital art, photography and design. Here are the highlights.

• Get Adobe Creative Cloud Pro

Adobe Sneaks 2026: watch the full presentation

Project Scene Sweep

On the video and filmmaking front, Adobe's revealed what it's calling Project Scene Sweep. The AI-driven tool is being designed to understand characters, locations and scenes across a sequence, helping creators apply an edit consistently across cuts and camera angles.

It allows long-form, multi-shot videos to be edited from a single text prompt or edited frame, with the changes applied across each shot, cut, and camera angle. Example use cases cited include post-production fixes like removing a person or prop or swapping wardrobe without a reshoot.

The tool could also help for clearance issues, for example to replace an unlicensed logo or artwork in every shot where it appears, or for product placement after a shoot. Adobe suggests it could even be used to recast a new lead or location for a video or for testing variants for localisation.

Other projects in the works for video editing are Project Sound Bender, which would allow users to describe a sound and pull it out of a finished mix, then explore variations on an interactive canvas, and Project Live Set, which would allow filmmakers to change a subject or environment or redirect the camera as a scene continues.

Project Deep Brush

For digital art and image editing, Project Deep Brush uses AI to understand an image’s shape, colour and lighting and separate images into physically decomposed layers. This would give artists a new level of control for painting and retouching, including the ability to control where paint lands and to make lighting-aware edits in photos.

Users would be able to add things like graffiti, signage, wraps, or branding to surfaces like walls, pillars, and vehicles, making the tool a potential game changer for product and environment mockups. For example, you could put a logo or texture on a curved or angled surface like a bottle, and the edit would follow the surface’s contours and lighting.

You'll be able to try this out for yourself on the new Adobe Labs Playground site.

Project Hands On

Project Hands On is presented as a possible step from text-based editing towards a more fully graphical interface allowing greater control of AI-generated imagery. It analyses what’s in the image and then adds controls, such as control points that can be used to reshape details by simply dragging rather than rewriting a text prompt.

This could make editing AI-generated output more precise and intuitive, avoiding the trial-and-error nature of having to repeatedly rewrite prompts and regenerate an image.

Project Screen Test

Project Screen Test was perhaps the wildest idea teased at Adobe Sneaks. It would allow character designers to talk with their fictional creations to learn more about them and how they might behave in a given situation. Yes, seriously!

The tool would allow creators to develop a character’s look, voice and personality, and then have a natural language dialogue with said character in order to explore who they are and how they might respond in different scenes. The character would effectively audition for you.

The idea is that this conversation could turn character development in generative filmmaking and game development into a more intuitive, expressive part of the storytelling process.

Project Sight Span

Project Sight Span is tool that feels a lot more familiar. It transforms an image into an interactive, navigable world that creators can step inside and explore freely. That exploration could be used to frame shots beyond the original image, and render new images or camera-controlled videos, a little like what some artists are already doing with Gaussian splats. Adobe reckons this could be useful for things like set design and world building.

Project Link Up

Another highlight of Adobe Sneaks 2026 was Project Link Up. With existing vector tools, dragging an object onto another only determines where it lands. Project Link Up turns that drag gesture into semantic fusion, combining an understanding of both objects with drag path, velocity, and creative controls to shape how they influence each other in real time, while keeping the result fully editable as vector artwork.

The idea is that artists and designers would be able to place 2D or vector assets into scenes with automatic perspective matching, reducing the need to redraw objects at new viewing angles. For typography, it would be possible to merge illustrated elements with letterforms while keeping the type editable for branding, logotypes, and packaging design.

For more news from Adobe Max, see what's new in Photoshop 2027.

On paper, the Boulies EP600 can be adjusted to a ridiculous degree. It has an innovative floating lumbar support that slides up and down depending on your fore or aft position, which would make it one of the best office chairs for back pain. In reality, it’s just not that comfortable.

Comfort & ergonomics

The real highlight of the Boulies Ep600 is the lumbar support, a really smart piece of counterbalanced engineering that tracks up and down with your lumbar as you move forwards and backwards on the chair. It achieves mechanically what the Hbada X7 failed to do electronically, with none of that chair’s irritating motor noises and intrusive micro-adjustments. It can be locked in place, too, but I found the floating mode suited me really well.

While the lumbar support is the best feature here, it’s coupled with the absolute worst: the back support. There’s nothing wrong with the support itself, but it’s positioned too far back in relation to the seat pad. If you want back support, then you have to lean right back in the seat, and you’re then an unfathomable distance away from your screen. The headrest is fine, but its bracket either goes higher or more forwards, but never both. As a taller person, I found that the chair was conspiring to position my head as far away from the monitor as is physically possible.

This distance is what got me questioning whether I’ve been sitting properly for all these years. Are you meant to sit like your computer screen is repulsive? It's something that I’ve been aware of in other chairs, but here it’s really noticeable: ideally you should be able to touch your screen with a fully stretched arm when your back is supported, but the Boulies EP600 puts a good few inches between my fingertips and Reddit.

When you want to relax, the chair does lean back further, and while the pull-out leg rest is appreciated, it’s made of rock-hard plastic. I’d sacrifice the leg rest for a chair that leans forwards to offer back support when you’re in those intensely focused sessions — it was a feature I really appreciated when I reviewed the Titan Evo NanoGen.

Elsewhere in the Boulies EP600 it’s business as usual. The armrests flex and pivot all over the place, and even tilt upwards or out of the way completely, but they’re coupled with very, very firm cushions that make you painfully aware of your elbow bones. The seatpad also moves backwards and forwards to accommodate different leg lengths and preferences.

Design & aesthetics

From the front, the Boulies EP600 tends towards the uglier side of office chairs, with its curved back panels resembling an insect: thorax, abdomen, and. It looks better from behind; its curved central column gives it an aesthetically pleasing structure, and its chunky armrests make it feel like the captain’s chair on the U.S.S. Enterprise.

One thing I like about mesh chairs (and this is mesh throughout) is that their transparency helps negate some of the weightiness of the design, and this is the case here. The grey colour scheme Boulies supplied has a slightly Y2K feel, especially in the silver plastic under the armrests and the metallic accent on the rear column. It’s also available in black, which looks even more insectoid.

I almost forgot to mention the pull-out leg rest, because I’d blanked it from my mind, but it’s really hideous; a single piece of plastic that wouldn’t look out of place in a 1970s hospital, which was truly the worst time for healthcare implements.

The Boulies EP600 is never going to win a good-looking chair contest, but this bug-like design language has become fairly standard in mid-range ergonomic chairs, and I don’t think it’s better or worse than any other.

Specs

Assembly

One thing I’ve come to loathe in chair construction is bases that need to be screwed together. I get that it saves packaging, but it’s such a chore! Thankfully, Boulies has overcome this with arms that lever themselves into position when you stand on the centre and, oh my gosh, it’s one of the most satisfying things I’ve ever experienced. More of this, please!

The manual is a little basic, and there are a few bolts that are fiddly to get in the right place, but overall it’s a 15-minute process with very little that can go wrong. The fully built chair feels solid and well-made; there are no creaking parts and nothing wobbles.

At 21kg, it’s reassuringly heavy, and its wide dimensions make it tricky to move through my Hobbity Victorian English home, so this is one that you won't want to move around too much.

Price & value

The Boulies EP600 carries a retail price of $489.99 / £429.99, but at the time of writing it’s $409.99 / £339.99, placing it firmly in the mid-range of ergonomic chairs.

For around the same price, you can pick up the Sihoo Doro C300 Pro, which includes a similar range of features. It lacks Boulies’ dynamic lumbar support and built-in leg rest, but it’s still a supremely comfortable chair with those all-important adjustable armrests.

If you want even more adjustability in a similar form factor, look no further than Hinomi’s H2 Pro. While its price point is a bit higher (it’s currently $569 / £569), it has adjustable points just about everywhere, and I found it really comfortable and supportive once I got the fit dialled in.

Should you buy?

Boulies primarily makes gaming chairs, and it feels as if the EP600 hasn’t quite shaken off its specialisation. It could work well if you’re primarily into gaming or watching movies and occasionally delve into more focused tasks. The flip-up armrests make it good for people who like to draw at their desks or noodle on a guitar to get those creative juices flowing. But designers, editors, and chair review writers who like a more upright position for focused work just won’t find enough support here.

It’s a shame because the lumbar support is smart, the armrests are versatile, and the mesh design is comfortable and cool. It’s also one of the easiest chairs to assemble. A few tweaks, such as better back support and plusher armrests, and the Boulies EP600 would be an instant classic. But as it stands, it’s hard to recommend, and I'm confident that the problem is with the design, not the person who's sitting on it.

This is a bean-to-cup coffee machine. It can grind your beans, brew a wide range of coffees and froth milk to perfection all while looking the part, and it comes from one of the most reliable brands in the mid-range of the market. See below for more details on the deal.

The best early Black Friday coffee maker deals

• Browse coffee machine deals at Amazon

Grinding your beans fresh right before brewing is one of the keys to great tasting coffee. For many, that means choosing between a separate grinder and coffee machine or a large bean-to-cup machine that eats up a good chunk of a kitchen counter. The Rivelia LatteCrema has been designed to do everything without taking up minimal space.

Automatic adjustments and interchangeable 250g bean hoppers make it easy to swap between different coffees, and the LatteCrema Hot Technology lets you adjust foam levels (from flat/hot milk to light or thick, super-fluffy foam) for drinks like cappuccinos, flat whites, and latte macchiatos.

The intuitive one-touch display lets you swipe through a variety of 16 drinks and allows you to store up to 4 user profiles, which can remember your favorite drink strengths and volumes.

Not in the UK? Check out coffee machine deals in your region below.

Space Invaders was the first game I ever played, or at least the first I can remember playing. I played it on a black-and-white CRT with an Atari 2600 (which is why I loved the Atari 2600+), crouched cross-legged on the floor, my face pressed against the TV screen. Our local swimming pool had an arcade because, back then, game cabinets appeared everywhere, but it was off-limits to me at eight.

I’m an adult now, so I can have Space Invaders, which remained one of the best games of the 80s after its release in 1978, on my wrist and play it whenever I like. In colour, too. That’s the pitch behind the My Play Watch series, which brings retro game brands back as digital watches. (For more, check out the indie game aping the visual design of old LCD game and watch gadgets.)

The Mega Man-branded My Play Watch is a different story. I came to the series late, on PlayStation, but of the two, this is arguably the watch with the more interesting game. It’s a reworked version of Mega Man 2, playable on a tiny watch face. Mega Man runs automatically; tap and hold the screen to jump, then release to fire, and beating bosses unlocks new watch faces.

My Play Watch: Mega Man vs Space Invaders

My Play Watch Mega Man: the better game

The blue retro watch and game capture the feel of Mega Man 2 despite the simplified controls, and the bosses and music are still there, bleeping away on my wrist. It isn’t a straight port, though. There are no Robot Master weapons, some enemies and minibosses are missing, and the levels have been changed. Controls can get fiddly when your finger covers the screen.

And yet I’ve kept Space Invaders on my wrist, even though its version of the game is simple. You move the little ship left and right using the side dial and tap the screen to fire. Sure, it's not as easy as playing on one of the best retro game consoles like the new Evercade Nexus, but look how tiny it is. It’s easy to pick up but hard to play while wearing, and the original arcade sounds and pixel-art watch faces sell the nostalgia, even if anyone nearby will tut and raise an irksome eyebrow at the loud bleeps and famously high-pitched 'pew-cssssh' as an Invader turns to pixel dust.

My Play Watch Space Invaders: nostalgia on your wrist

Nostalgia and collectibility are what sell these watches, and they’ve sold me. I love looking down and seeing the little animated Space Invader pixel monster waving back at me, or the bright original cabinet art sat on my wrist.

But they also have to do more than simply callback to my childhood, and that’s where both watches have a smart retro design. The smartest touch is the health tracking. Step count, calories, and heart rate turn into gamified stats, with my daily rates shown right next to my Space Invaders high score. It’s a small thing, but it makes checking my wrist and health updates feel like celebrating a scoreboard.

Which My Play Watch should you buy?

Elsewhere, these watches do what a digital watch needs to do in 2026: show the time, a calendar, a stopwatch and a calculator, but they have no notifications or advanced smartwatch features, which is either refreshing and on-brand for a retro game and watch, or a lack of digital detail. Personally, I’m happy to not have WhatsApps buzzing every 10 minutes. The design is a nice touch, too. Both use UI and fonts inspired by their games, and Space Invaders makes stellar use of pixel-art digits that take me straight back to 1982. The strap is spray-painted with Invaders, too (and each watch includes an alternative strap if you want to tone down the retro branding).

Just keep your expectations in check. This collectable tells the time, not an Apple Watch or Garmin rival. No notifications, a small screen not built for long play sessions but designed to take you back to simpler times and scratch that collectables itch – new editions include Street Fighter 2 and a gloriously obnoxious glowing green and pink Centipede edition that I kind of want for no apparent reason but mostly because these things become a container for our emotions.

At around $79.99 / £79.99, Mega Man is the better game, but Space Invaders is the one I’ve kept on, because, like all things retro, it’s completely personal.

Other My Play Watch editions

They do cost a fair few bob, starting at $1,199 but venturing into the $5000 territory, so they aren't craft machines for the people at this stage.

CNC machines work in the opposite way to the best 3D printers or the best UV machines. Rather than building an object up layer by layer, they carve it out of a solid block with a spinning cutter. That means you can create strong, precise parts in metal, wood and stone, built to last.

I've picked the best CNC machines available to consumers today, along with two promising Kickstarter models that we're excited to see materialise.

The best CNC machine for beginners

Makera launched as a company in 2019, with the aim of lowering the cost of precision desktop manufacturing. Two years later they made a big splash with their first CNC machine, Carvera, which debuted on Kickstarter and is still popular today: we've put it as number two on our list. But the Z1, which launched in 2025, again on Kickstarter, has shaken up the market by driving the cost of entry even lower.

Despite being the cheapest on this list, it does everything a beginner will need. It's built on a cast aluminium frame and fully enclosed. It offers automatic probing and levelling, a built-in camera you can connect to your phone, and an air blast that clears chips as it cuts. And its software offers one-click toolpaths, so you don't need to learn complex software before you get started.

The tradeoff for the cheap price is that it's more limited in terms of size and power. The 200 x 200mm work area also means you can only work with small parts, while the 150W spindle requires shallow, patient passes in metal. Another drawback compared to the Carvera is that you'll need to change tools by hand via a quick-release lever.

If you're seeking your first CNC machine, though, this is our top pick.

The best CNC machine for experienced users

The Carvera has been around since 2021 but remains Makera's flagship. With this CNC machine you get a six-slot automatic tool changer, letting you swap between different milling bits mid-job, saving you from having to fiddle about with your hands. It's capable of cutting and milling wood, plastics, acrylics, carbon fiber, FR4 (PCBs) and non-ferrous metals like aluminum and brass.

Other features include an automated wireless probe for surface mapping and bed leveling, built-in dust collection and a 2.5W laser for engraving and engraving and PCB labelling. The enclosed design keeps noise to around 65dB: not silent, but still quiet for a CNC. You can cut wood, plastics, PCBs and non-ferrous metals like aluminium and brass well, and if you want to make circuit boards at home, Makera will sell you a dedicated bundle for that.

The 200W spindle is modest, and Makera doesn't recommend you try to cut steel or titanium. And while the crowdfunded rivals below promise more power at a similar price, remember that they're not actually available yet. This is, and has years of independent tests and positive customer reviews behind it.

Up-and-comer

Twotrees produces affordable laser engravers and 3D printers, and the ED1 is its latest CNC machine. It offers automatic tool changing, like the Carvera above, but at a more affordable price.

While the ED1 is closer to shipping that the CNC machines below, it's only available for pre-orders, which will ship from January 2027. That means it hasn't yet been independently tested, so at this stage we can only go on the specs.

They do, though, look very impressive. The five-slot changer is said to swap cutters in around 10 seconds, the 600W spindle has three times the power of the Carvera's – Titanium is on its list of materials – and the 300 x 200mm work area is a decent size. You'll also get auto levelling, a built-in camera and AI-assisted software.

Kickstarter products to watch

These CNC machines haven't shipped yet, so we haven't included them in our main list. Both are due to arrive in early 2027, though, so assuming all goes well, they're well worth keeping an eye on.

Infimaker was founded in Shenzhen in 2024 by former DJI engineers, and the K1 is not just its CNC machine but its first product at all. The Kickstarter closed in September, but late pledges are still open, with delivery estimated for February.

So what's different about this one? Well, most desktop CNC machines are 3-axis: the cutter moves left and right, back and forth, and up and down. This adds two more axes: tilting and rotating the workpiece as it cuts, which allows you carve complex shapes like impellers and sculptures in a single setup, rather than having to re-clamp the part by hand.

This CNC machine features a 1.5kW spindle, a six-tool automatic changer and AI-assisted software. Be aware, though, that you'll need a strong desk, as this weighs a hefty 110kg.

Tooldance X1

The Tooldance X1 is a crowdfunded CNC machine with a 1.5kW permanent-magnet spindle that aims to deliver high torque at low speeds, enabling you to work with stainless steel and titanium. It promises the largest work area on this list at 400 x 265 x 180mm, along a nine-slot automatic tool changer that uses RFID tags to track its cutters, and sensors that measure your stock for you.

The Kickstarter is still live, with delivery estimated for March 2027. So as you'd expect, there've been no independent tests yet. If you're in the US, also note that the spindle's output drops to around 1kW on a 120V supply.

FAQs

Creating artwork that can make viewers feel amazed requires what I call ‘epic scale’, which is a technique I specialise in. It focuses on placing a tiny figure in front of enormous architecture, emphasising the contrast between the small figure and the vastness of the environment.

The software I use for my entire 3D workflow is Blender, with additional adjustments and post-processing done in Photopea (see our guide to the best 3D modelling software, and you might want one of the best laptops for 3D modelling).

For more inspiration, see our Blender tutorials.

Gear up

See below for today's best deals on drawing tablets.

This article originally appeared in ImagineFX. You can order back issues.

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Since its 1998 release, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time has been revered as the greatest game of all time, influencing many games, though few have ever tried to replicate its formula beyond subsequent 3D Zelda titles. That is, until Breath of the Wild blew open the doors, reinventing Nintendo's most beloved series in the modern open-world age of player agency and freedom, and its sequel, Tears of the Kingdom, reached new, unimaginable heights.

Returning to the N64 classic then might feel like a quaint relic of the past. So it's a revelation that, for the series' 40th anniversary, revisiting this beloved masterpiece remade for Nintendo Switch 2 has achieved an alchemy that rekindles the magic of what it must have been like to play Ocarina of Time for the first time 28 years ago.

This technically isn't the first time that Ocarina of Time has been remade, but whereas the 3DS update was largely a refurbishment that nonetheless stuck to the original blueprints, this Switch 2 remake has been fully rebuilt from the ground up for a new generation. The most notable difference, of course, is the art direction, which isn't just an exercise in Unreal hyper-realism. There's such attention to detail, from every blade of grass to the ridiculously detailed patterns and textures that adorn Link's hat and tunic. What's remarkable is that, unlike most modern games, all this visual density hasn't come at the expense of readability. I'd argue it's even easier to make out the cracked walls that bombs can blow up, while dungeons like the infamous Water Temple have improved architecture that makes navigation less confusing.

Ocarina of Time gets its character design right

Despite initial divisive responses to the new Zelda character designs (but then, I'm old enough to remember the 'Celda' reactions to Wind Waker), I soon found myself enamoured by the ornate puppet-style aesthetic reminiscent of fairy-tale and fantasy media from the 80s, while the still-mute Link says a lot just with his subtle facial expressions. Admittedly, Sheik is much less androgynous than the original game (though the twist is about as non-spoiler as Luke Skywalker's father), but Zelda herself is also an improvement over the dainty damsel, with a voice distinct from the stereotypical princess in the newer games.

It's also however not a 'reimagining' in the vein of Resident Evil 2 where the original story has been adapted to a modern iteration of the series, nor is it just a primarily graphical overhaul like Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater that otherwise plays almost identically. After Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom's vast open world, trekking across Hyrule Field in a matter of minutes should feel ridiculously small, yet I have to give kudos to Nintendo for not succumbing to the temptation of stretching it out and then stuffing it with filler content, though the original side quests, from item-trading to hunting down Gold Skulltulas, are intact.

There's still a majesty to this finite adventure of a courageous boy journeying across time to save the world that still evokes so much, whether it's when you first pull out the iconic Master Sword or just stand in the middle of Hyrule Field and just make out the surrounding locations based on their distinct landmarks without the need for waypoint markers. A maximalist Final Fantasy 7 Remake approach that stretched the narrative with many more things to do would have diluted, rather than enhanced, the experience.

Still, plenty of modern additions make for a much smoother playthrough, from a free-moving camera to 60FPS performance in stark contrast to the original's barely stable 20FPS, and a clear quest log that also weaves a beautiful tapestry chronicling your adventure. There's even a dedicated jump button for Link, which admittedly took me a while to adjust to, since I kept falling off platforms when I expected an auto-jump; you can just dash instead of the original's hack of rolling around ad infinitum.

How Ocarina of Time on Switch 2 mixes the old and new

You can also see some of the newer games' design incorporated, such as being able to quick-select items, though die-hards may lament that this means getting rid of the ability to map three items at once - it's balanced out by having some items like the lenses of truth or iron boots being mapped to respective buttons on the D-pad. Weapons like the slingshot, bow, and hookshot can also use gyro aiming, and while this was introduced in Ocarina of Time 3D, those still retained the original's first-person perspective, whereas now it's third-person like the newer titles, and you can move around at the same time.

Personally, my favourite new feature exclusive to Switch 2 hardware is being able to play the iconic ocarina songs by humming the tunes into the console's built-in microphone. For sure, it's a gimmick, but a very apt one, and I found it so much more intuitive than trying to memorise the button inputs, which is also a testament to how memorable Ocarina of Time's music continues to be.

Zelda's modern polish downside

If there is a downside to all the modern polish, it's that playing through Ocarina of Time is perhaps a little too breezy. That's certainly true of all the target and archery minigames, where, with the intuitive gyro aiming, I could get the top prizes on the first go without breaking a sweat. That also speaks to the absence of a more challenging option such as a Hero mode (you can opt to not increase your hearts, which is easier to do as you have to press a button to pick up heart containers), though an obvious choice would have been a Master Quest mode that remixes the dungeons, which could still happen post-launch either as a free update or paid DLC.

But Ocarina of Time was never as hardcore as Dark Souls; it was more about the pleasure of discovering new items you could put to ingenious use, especially against its brilliantly designed bosses, including an improved multi-stage finale. It's also nice that one of the remake's genuinely new features is a museum of all the enemies you've encountered, which lets you jump into boss rematches and even boss rushes.

If the overall changes to the game and story are relatively minor – voiced cutscenes are fine but hardly a gamechanger, though it's nice that Matt Mercer reprises his role as Ganondorf – it's really a testament that the original 1998 release was already such a defining moment in gaming that it doesn't require a radical overhaul to remind you just how great it still is. More importantly, in a post-BotW world, it's a relief that an adventure of this size can still feel epic and timeless.

The new identity is a fine example of a redesign done right. It feels more modern, more human and approachable, and it remains instantly recognisable, maintaining a clever hidden symbolism.

See our guides to the best laptops for graphic design and the best monitors for graphics artists if you need new tools for your own work.

The Caixa rebrand was the work of the Brazilian agency Tátil. It looked to the bank's history and its existing identity, kept the elements that people most recognised, and turned them up.

The previous logo design had lasted 29 years, so it was doing something right, but it was starting to look drab and dated with the old corporate feel of those muted colours and slightly italicised all-caps letters.

The rebrand turns the colours up with more modern, vibrant hues. Tátil suggests the blue represents enduring solidity while the orange reflects the diversity of Brazil.

The wordmark gets a cleaner lowercase design, and the core X motif, which features in the wordmark and also stands alone, gets a significant refresh.

The letter now more clearly resembles a box when applied in repeating patterns, reflecting the bank's name, which means box (as in savings box) in Portuguese. It also continues to resemble the roof of a house, reflecting the bank's role as Brazil's biggest mortgage lender.

You can see the evolution of the institution's branding in the video below.

"While every app was busy calling itself a bank, we went against the grain and found what only Caixa has, a bank that brings together the social and the commercial, today's needs and the drive to grow," Tátil says of the rebrand.

It's no secret Adobe is going full send on AI, after a full fleet of AI partnerships and Firefly taking centre stage, blossoming into a full-fledged creative studio. It could all start to feel a little existential, but beaming under the stage lights, future Adobe CEO Anil Chakravarthy assures me, "Adobe will meet you where you are”. And I start to believe him.

AI has persisted as a divisive topic among creatives, but Adobe has shown a refreshing self-awareness around the tension. Emerging on stage, vice president Deepa Subramaniam wastes no time addressing that "things feel uncertain” in the wake of AI.

Assurances of “reliability” and “safety” are thrown around, honing in on Adobe's legacy as a brand shaped and "built by creatives that care about the craft”. She assures the sceptics among the crowd (myself included) that for Adobe, "Creativity isn’t a side project; it’s a way of life,” and to my surprise, the typically eye-roll-worthy sentiment soothes me. At its core, it seems Adobe hasn't forgotten about the creatives that shaped its brand.

Deepa raises some valid points. In an increasingly content-driven world, more is asked of us. The humble graphic designer is now expected to be a web designer, motion designer, and social media maverick all in one – something that Adobe's “rich learning ecosystem” can solve, according to Deepa. Creatives are trapped in a battle with waning time and resources, with demand for content ever increasing. If handled correctly, time-saving AI could offer the respite we need, but it raises a moral dilemma. Where do we stop?

For more Adobe news, check out why Adobe's Google partnership hints at a radically different future for Photoshop or take a look at the new AI features coming to Photoshop.

The entry-level specs won't interest professional video editors (see our guide to the best desktop PCs for video editors if you're in that category), but dedicated Nvidia graphics mean this budget setup is ready to handle lighter content creation as well as gaming, and it would mark a step up from a laptop with integrated graphics.

Why choose a desktop PC

Whether it's for gaming or content creation, there are two big advantages of a desktop PC over a laptop. Firstly, you tend to get more bang for your buck in the first place. As a rule, you tend to get more powerful internals, in the form of a superior CPU and GPU and more RAM, compared to what you would get in a laptop at the same price point (of course, some of this is outweighed by the fact that you also need to invest in a monitor and peripherals).

But the biggest advantage of a desktop PC is upgradability. If you find you outgrow the RTX 5060 too quickly, or processes are getting bottlenecked and you need more RAM, or more storage, you can buy the additional internals that you need as you need them and upgrade the configuration yourself, potentially multiple times.

This is a full 5.1.3-channel package with real rear satellite speakers and a wireless subwoofer. This makes it stand out from all those one-piece soundbars, which use virtual processing to try to mimic the effect of surround sound. The result is a fuller, more rounded and more immersive experience (also see our best headphones if you want options for listening alone).

• Browse soundbars at Amazon

A real 5.1.3 soundbar system for wraparound audio

Modern flat-screen TVs are too thin to house quality speakers, often resulting in muddy sound and hard-to-hear dialogue. Soundbars provide a budget, space-friendly upgrade without having to run speaker wires across your room or buy an AV receiver.

Many of them come as a single piece and use processing to try to replicate the effect of surround sound. The LG US80TR 5.1.3 does things properly with physical rear speakers and subwoofer for more immersive sound while still keeping clutter to a minimum.

It comprises the main soundbar, wireless rear satellites and a dedicated subwoofer. With an output of 580W, it can handle quiet dialogue as well as loud sound effects and soundtracks with nuance and sensitivity. The drivers bounce sound off your ceiling to create overhead effects like rain, while the dedicated center channel puts dialogue at the fore where you want it and the subwoofer delivers a punch at the low end, also serving for music and gaming.

Now a new update introduces an attempt to police generative AI content along with more complete AI declarations and more control over filtering. The aim is to make it easier to users to control what they see, but it's got a mixed response from artists so far.

When publishing content on ArtStation, users will now be asked to declare whether generative AI was used in the creation of the piece. Creators can identify their work as primarily generative AI, mixed generative AI and non-generative methods or 100% non-generative.

This relies on users being upfront, and ArtStation says that most are. However, it's recognised that there is a problem with people uploading AI-generated content without flagging it as such.

That leads to the second aspect of the latest update, which is a dedicated channel for reporting AI content. If users come across artwork they think is AI-generated but which isn't labelled, they can report it. ArtStation says that every report will help improve its AI filtering for the whole community.

Users also get more control over what they're shown: they can choose whether to hide declared generative AI content, or to allow mixed generative and non-generative workflows, and they can adjust how aggressively ArtStation filters content based on user reports of suspected generative AI.

The 'Strict' setting hides artwork when just a few reports suggest it may be AI-generated. 'Balanced' filters it out when there’s a moderate level of reports and 'Loose' removes it only when user signals are strongest. By default, the filter will be set to not show any project declared as AI-generated, tagged with 'CreatedwithAI' or tagged with generative AI tools, and suspected as AI will be set to strict.

The platform risks becoming useless if it's impossible to find interesting work because of the sheer volume of low-quality AI-generated content. Many users have welcomed the latest update as a move in the right direction, while others have raised doubts about how effective the measures it will be.

There's a strong reliance on user moderation, which will depend on users accurately identifying AI art. Some may still go undetected completely, while the 'Strict' filtering could remove work falsely identified as AI.

It's not yet clear if artists will be notified if their work is flagged or whether they will have a way to contest that decision. That could be a concern when even long established digital artists like Loish have been falsely accused of using AI over on platforms like TikTok.

The update highlights the difficult balancing act of policing AI content. ArtStation has a big focus on concept art, and some in the industry now see generative AI as an inevitable part of the pipeline in this field. The new Disney deal with Adobe will focus on developing custom AI models specifically for concept work. In that context, KitBash probably sees banning AI art from the platform as counterproductive if not impossible.

Perhaps most exciting is a collaboration with Google DeepMind to develop new AI editing capabilities for Photoshop. The companies are exploring a customised Google image model that could allow users to make near-real-time edits using text prompts, switching between variations without disrupting their workflow. In theory, that could make generative editing feel less like a frustrating cycle of prompting and waiting, and more like working with a traditional Photoshop tool. The catch? It's still exploratory, with no release date announced.

“Adobe’s mission is to empower everyone to create, and our AI innovations are helping more people express their ideas and create in ways that amplify their voice, while maintaining creative control,” said Anil Chakravarthy, president and incoming CEO of Adobe. “Our expanded partnership combines Google’s frontier AI with Adobe’s industry-leading creative and productivity tools at global scale, enabling us to deliver differentiated experiences and bring Adobe’s innovations to more people across Adobe and Google products.”

Meanwhile, Adobe is bringing its creative tools to Google's AI Mode in Search, potentially allowing users to go straight from searching for inspiration to creating something without opening a separate app.

Adobe is also expanding its integrations with Gemini and Gemini Enterprise, enabling users to enhance images, customise designs and work with PDFs through conversational prompts. For designers churning out multiple versions of campaign assets, for example, that could be a genuine time-saver.

Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the announcement, though, is what it suggests about Adobe's direction. Rather than expecting creatives to work exclusively within its own apps, it seems Adobe increasingly wants its tools accessible wherever people are already working, such as Google Workspace.

For more announcements from this week, take a look at our main Adobe Max 2026 page.

This comes alongside a host of Firefly-based AI updates, which effectively turn it into a full creative studio. You can read more about that here.

• Relight adds a virtual light to your image that you drag into position. The Properties panel lets you tweak its colour, intensity and size, and you can add up to three lights to a scene.

• Generative Restyle regenerates an image in a different style, with a slider in the Properties panel to control how far the effect goes.

• The Remove tool also gets an upgrade. It’s now better at taking out an object’s shadows and reflections, so you no longer need to select them as well.

• Quick compare: See your edits easily with a before and after

Creative Agent and a new AI workspace

Adobe is rolling out Creative Agent, an AI agent, across several Creative Cloud apps, Photoshop included. It’s pitched at handling busywork, and can also answer how-to questions, like where a tool lives or how to complete an edit. Photoshop’s AI Assistant also gets a new AI-first workspace built around natural language prompts, with a simpler interface. You can leave it at any time to get back to the full toolset.

The betas designers should look at first

• A tool that converts flattened graphics, such as a flyer or PDF, into editable layers
• A mockup creation tool
• Generative Recompose, which changes an image’s aspect ratio and repositions elements
• Camera Angles, which lets you explore alternative viewpoints of an image by interacting with the canvas
• A tool for removing atmospheric effects such as lens flare and haze
• A timelapse feature for sharing your process

That, of course, raises questions about who used to be handed those repetitive but creative jobs and whether those roles are now no longer viable. But for many creatives, particularly freelancers, handing process work to an AI agent is likely very enticing.

So let's take a closer look at the new Generative Media Tool for those looking to speed up their workflows. Instead of jumping between apps and AI services, editors can generate video, sound effects, soundscapes, and music directly in Premiere's timeline. You can select a range, describe what you need, and add the generated media as an editable clip, so you don't have to break your editing flow to get the material you need. The demo was certainly impressive.

More controversially, Adobe is also bringing supported third-party AI models into the workflow, giving editors more choice in how they generate video but also opening up Adobe's app ecosystem to external AI models such as Kling and Seedance 2.5, which have greyer areas than Adobe Firefly. More practically, a new Generative Remove tool, currently in beta, can delete unwanted objects from a video frame and shot, filling the space with realistic detail, even figuring out where related shadows of a now-omitted object should be removed.

Color Mode gives grading a new home

Color Mode is another big part of the Premiere Pro update. It's a dedicated colour-grading workspace that reshapes the interface around the job, with editable Style Presets that can apply a consistent look across an entire sequence. They're a bit like traditional Looks, only you can get inside them and adjust the individual elements.

You can also work across groups of clips, making it easier to fix inconsistencies between shots without grading each one individually. New on-screen HUDs provide feedback as you make adjustments, helping you stay focused on the footage rather than a wall of sliders.

Adobe is also expanding its AI-powered audio tools, including Enhance Audio, Separate Crosstalk, and Separate Sound Source, to clean up dialogue and separate elements in a mix.

Premiere Mobile and the MCP

Premiere Mobile is getting the Creative Agent in private beta, bringing agentic editing to phones. It can turn footage into editable first cuts, make changes using natural-language prompts and help refine videos while keeping the creator in control.

Adobe is also adding hundreds of thousands of licensed music tracks from Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group to Premiere Mobile on iPhone, with Android coming soon. There's a catch: the music is licensed for personal, non-commercial videos, while commercial projects can continue to use Adobe Stock Audio.

Finally, Premiere is included in Adobe's Local MCP integrations preview. This allows third-party agents to work with native Premiere project files locally, alongside Photoshop, Illustrator and After Effects. Importantly, sequences, bins and other project elements remain editable, meaning you can step in and make changes yourself.

As ever with these tools, the real test will be how much of the creative process editors are comfortable handing over.

The UE 5.9 Preview is Epic Games' first engine release built mainly via agentic workflows. A lot of the updates it introduces are also around AI-assisted workflows, including the use of Unreal MCP, Unreal Assistant and a new AI-driven content creation tool called Unreal Canvas.

"Invite your agents," Epic tells developers in its announcement of the Unreal Engine 5.9 preview, highlighting the ability to work with AI coding agents directly in Editor and explore AI-assisted content creation.

Unreal Canvas is described as a shared workspace where people and agents create and refine content using Unreal Engine and the other connected tools. Its canvases include text, images, videos, and mesh generators that users can control with prompts and a chosen generation service.

The companion plugin Unreal Canvas Bridge exposes Movie Render Graph rendering to Canvas as MCP tools while Unreal Canvas Spatial Annotations places annotations in the 3D scene and captures the scene for use in Canvas.

Other updates in Unreal Engine 5.9 include improvements for animation, rendering and world-building with Lumen World Cache and improved Nanite culling. You can also run projects in browser again through WebAssembly and WebGPU.

Epic stresses that this isn't a conventional preview. It was put together in about a week for the 2026 Epic AI MegaJam, which runs from 12 to 15 November. It says the aim of the release is to learn how to build the engine with multiple people directing swarms of agents working in parallel. In addition, the timing seems intended to allow the jam to serve as a testing ground.

"A handful of people directed fleets of agents to port the AI tooling from our UE6 development branch and implement Web as a target platform. Agents wrote the web platform code, starting from UE4's retired HTML5 platform, with engineers directing, reviewing, and testing the work," Epic says of how it developed the preview.

It adds: "we're already seeing benefits from this approach, and it allows us to deliver more UE5 releases with faster bug fixes and development on targeted features, all without pulling focus from UE6."

Unsurprisingly the heavy focus on AI is causing debate among developers. Those not interested in using AI agents are making a note to steer clear over concerns for the stability of the release. Epic has already clarified that some of the agent-written code still and parts of the web renderer are prototypes that will need to be cleaned up before the full release.

"I think we’ll just be staying on 5.8. LLMs are a great help, but literally everything about this preview sounds like something that crosses a boundary. Focus on optimising your code, what possessed you to add 3D model generation?" one person comments on X.

Others feels that Epic's approach is reasonable. "I'm not a fan of the asset gen stuff. But I do love more integration for agents! Including not trying to force us to use an agent IN the editor," on person argues.

Let us know what you think below. You can learn more on the website (also see our roundup of Unreal Engine tutorials and Unreal Engine courses).